Hanover Park wind turbine one step closer

Keeneyville Elementary District 20 has earned a small but important victory in its campaign to build a wind turbine at Greenbrook School.

Following a lengthy discussion at Thursday's Hanover Park village board meeting, trustees voted 4-2 in favor of directing the staff to draft a zoning ordinance allowing turbines provided a long list of conditions is met. They'll decide whether to approve the amended ordinance in two weeks.

School district officials will then have to earn support from residents, but that may prove a much tougher sell given the small group of neighbors already speaking out against the project.

"First we dealt with a landfill, now we're going to deal with a wind turbine," Mary Gilroy said, referring to the recent environmental hazards at nearby Mallard Landfill. "I have a concern too about my property value. We're already in the dumper in that area."

Added resident John Kaiser: "It's visual pollution."

Some trustees pledged they wouldn't vote for the Greenbrook School turbine if the majority of residents didn't get on board. But they were willing to get an ordinance in place allowing for the possibility.

Under recommendations by the village's development commission, any proposed turbine to come before the board would have to be on at a 15-acre plot free of other structures. It would be limited to 155 feet in height, and the nearest occupied building couldn't be within 400 feet. It also wouldn't be allowed to operate from midnight to 7 a.m.

The only change trustees made to the proposed ordinance amendment was to notify residents within 3,000 feet of the turbine, an increase from 400 feet.

District 20 Director of Operations Gary Ofisher said a 150-foot-tall meteorological tower will be erected by the end of the month so the required wind study can be done. He said the district will also study shadow flicker and noise.

Mayor Rod Craig said he's confident residents will warm up to the turbine, especially when they take into consideration the savings in electricity costs and the educational value.

"These students are the young creative minds that will solve our energy crisis," Craig said. "Parents will want their children to attend Greenbrook."